


Hey April - It's Sterling

by corikane



Series: Teenage Bounty Hunters - series 1 [3]
Category: Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Teenagers, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corikane/pseuds/corikane
Summary: Sterling starts texting April, she can't help herself. While talking through messages on their phones is their only form of communication, it seems to be the only one they need.
Relationships: April Stevens/Sterling Wesley
Series: Teenage Bounty Hunters - series 1 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916662
Comments: 31
Kudos: 317





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It looks like this is becoming a thing for me, writing for this fandom. My stories seem to fall into order as they all belong to the same canon (my headcanon) so it would be wise to read them in order: Not Biblically, How Blair Cs It, and this one, Hey April - It's Sterling. You can still read them individually but I feel like my stories will link more and more, fair warning.

_Hey April, will you text me back? It's Sterling (new phone)_

It had been ten minutes since this message made her phone ping with its arrival. April had finished the sentence she'd been writing first and then picked up her phone. Since then she'd been staring at it.

She hadn't expected to hear from Sterling - ever again. She'd thought they were where they had been these last few years - at odds. This message, as simple as it was, had April's heart racing, her palms were sweaty. She'd thought the message would be from Luke or Hannah B.

_How do I know it's really you?_ she typed without being at all sure that she would send it. What was the point of starting a conversation that would most likely lead to them fighting again? Did she even want to talk to Sterling after what Blair had told her the other day?

They'd arrested her dad. She still wasn't too sure about the logistics or even logic of this statement but Blair was quite convincing. All the other stuff, the stuff about her dad, about who he was...

April felt heat flush her face, her stomach twisted with anger. Yes, she was angry. But who with? The Wesleys? Or her dad? Herself maybe?

She pressed send.

It only took seconds for an answer to make her phone buzz and ping in her hand.

_How many people know that your lipgloss tastes like cherries?_

April closed her eyes. The anger evaporated. This answer was so Sterling. How she missed her!

_You, Luke, and probably my Nana_ , she typed her answer and didn't hesitate before sending it.

It took longer this time for an answer. April thought about putting the phone down and continuing with her essay but the notification of another message made this thought null and void.

_So you believe me? Good. I need to talk to you._

_What if I don't wanna talk to you?_ April typed after a few minutes' deliberation. She bit her lip, tapping her pen on her notepad before sending it. This time she did put her phone down and tried to get back to her work.

Not that she was able to, every few seconds her gaze strayed to her phone, she didn't even know what she'd been writing about before Sterling started texting her.

Her phone buzzed and pinged just as there was a knock at her door. She grabbed the phone and hastily threw it in her drawer.

"Come in," she called out.

Her dad pushed her head between door and frame. "Still working?" he asked. "I thought you'd like to come with me to Home Depot? I was thinking of getting a new trimmer."

"Ah, sorry. Not today, I got to finish this essay, and then I've still got math." She hated lying to her dad but she'd learned to lie out of necessity a long time ago. And she knew she was good at it.

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to it. But homework comes first. Next time?"

"Of course, daddy." She smiled at him but her insides twisted. It was so damn hard to ignore all the things she knew, all the things she'd been told and still be the girl who loved her dad, the one who would never doubt him.

"See you at dinner, padawan."

"Yes, master Jedi."

He chuckled and closed the door.

April's smile vanished as soon as her dad did. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. She hadn't been this conflicted since the time she admitted to herself that she was gay. What was she supposed to do?

In her desk drawer, her phone buzzed again. She pulled it out.

_I guess if you didn't want to talk to me you wouldn't have answered my first message? Look, I know you're angry. I didn't tell you about what happened to your dad, what Blair and I did. I feel bad about that, not for arresting him but not telling you about it after we hooked up. It was Blair and my secret, working as bounty hunters, we didn't tell anyone. I knew you would hate me and I couldn't bear that, not after what happened between us. So this is me saying I'm truly sorry for not telling you_ , the first message read.

There was a second one:

_I know Blair said some things to you, about your dad. She was angry at you because of me. She didn't mean to hurt you, and neither did I._

April didn't answer. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. She put her phone back into the drawer and reread her essay so she could continue. Sterling's words stayed with her, though. They stayed with her as she watched her dad's car back out of the drive, as she went for a run, headphones blaring one of her more energetic playlists into her ears, and later as she sat down to dinner with her mom and dad. He kept smiling at her, tried to confidently convey that nothing had changed between them. It was a lie but, for once, she refused to believe it.


	2. Chapter 2

It was torture to wait for an answer. Sterling tried to be patient, to put her phone away, and focus on something else but what else was there? She'd done her homework and emailed it all to Ellen, she'd talked to Luke on the phone (he couldn't come over, his mom had found out that he'd been here after school the last few days and put her foot down), and she'd had a long conversation and cry with Blair.

She was tired even though it wasn't even eight. It was part of what Blair said was depression and she was probably right. But Sterling couldn't even remember how it was to motivate herself to do anything but lie on her bed and brood over all the things that had happened... that night.

Her mind strayed there now but she wouldn't focus on it. There was just blurred action. Dana getting her from school, driving through the night, sour patch, her hands feeling all sticky, getting bound and locked in a trailer bathroom. And then the lovely faces of Blair and Bowser, her saviors. And that's where she shut her mind. Just at feeling safe because she knew Blair and Bowser would save her.

She'd shut her eyes and as she opened them again, they were wet with tears. She'd cried so much these last two weeks she didn't even know where the tears still came from. How could there be always more?

She reached out for her new phone to see if there was an answer from April. There wasn't. It had been three hours since Sterling's last text. There wasn't even a guarantee that April would answer. And even if she did...

Sterling sighed. It wouldn't really change anything, would it? Like the night of the lock-in, April seemed to be a million miles away. She couldn't come out, not with her dad being back. He was violent, that much they both knew about him. And April herself called him a hateful bigot.

Sterling shook her head. She still wanted her back. She couldn't stop thinking about those far too few precious times when they'd been together. About April's touch, about her smile, her quick wit, her kisses. She wanted all of it and more.

But there wasn't gonna be any more. Not for the next two years at least.

Sterling's hand tightened around her phone. Maybe Dana had had the right idea in throwing it out of the window. Maybe it was just a torture device anyway. Sterling looked at her window but it was closed, of course, it was.

And then a shock went through her hand, the buzz of a message, and she couldn't lift it fast enough, read the message fast enough.

_Can I ask how it happened? How did you two get to a point where you could arrest my dad? I just don't understand, you're teenagers._

This was easy, Sterling thought. She could do that. And so she began with the night she and Luke had sex for the first time and how Blair's incredulity led to the car crash with a skip - she explained skip to April. And she went from there.

At first, April didn't write anything back. Sterling just saw the tiny tack on her messages that told her April was following her story. But when she came to the part with April's dad, April wanted to know every little detail - understandable. She fell silent again after Sterling finished that part but Sterling kept going with the next skip, Tookie Chu, then Clea Kincaid. She just kept going.

_You know, it was actually the wife of a skip who advised me on how to broach the subject with you, you know when I was rambling about Ruth and Naomi while we build Solomon's temple?_

She'd wanted to draw April back into the conversation. She waited a little and then saw actual dots appearing as April wrote something. It seemed to take forever but finally, a message appeared.

 _You met a skip's wife?_ It wasn't much but it was enough.

_His wife and his girlfriend. They threw ice cubes and a bible at me to help him get away - they were a thruple, a threesome couple. And he ran away naked and I shot some lights and he fell on the glass. It was a crazy night._

_A thruple - I didn't even know something like that existed. I mean in real life, not in some segment of Fox News where they warn about the degradation of society through leftist progressivism._

Sterling had to laugh at that. _They seemed quite happy together, except for the part where Gary, the skip, dealt amphetamines which are not drugs that go on land and water as Blair claimed. I looked it up._

_And she told you to... talk about Ruth and Naomi?_

_Just to broach the subject slowly, throw out bait, see if you'd bite._ Sterling knew they were entering sensitive territory here.

 _I didn't though_ , April wrote back.

_No, you wanted to know what I meant by all that babbling and I chickened out. I was scared you'd tell someone._

_Given my history, I guess that was a justified fear. I never would have, of course. I was way too afraid that someone would find out about me. I still am._

_I will never tell anyone, and neither will Blair. Promise._

Minutes ticked by as Sterling waited for an answer. She heard Chloe tap by her room on her way to her parents' bedroom. Blair was listening to music in her room and Sterling expected their... Debbie to tell her to turn it down soon. She would probably knock on Sterling's door after, she did that every night now. Sterling had yet to answer her even once.

Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her thoughts. _I trust you_ , April's message read.

Sterling smiled. _Thanks. I trust you too._ She didn't send it right away. It seemed too... much. And so she added _Did I tell you about Cherry, the exotic dancer?_

_Exotic dancer? As in stripper? Don't tell me you went to a strip club._

_Sure did! It was Uh-mazing!_

They texted into the night. Mostly Sterling telling April about the skips, about Bowser and Yolanda. But April engaged, she asked questions, send some gifs that showed her reactions. It was almost like it had been before and yet totally different. They limited their conversation completely to messaging, no face-timing, no calling. And they just talked about bounty hunting, not themselves, not that night.

April didn't ask what happened after she'd left her on that bench. Sterling suspected she would at some point if they kept conversing. She wasn't sure what all she would tell her. Would she tell her about the kidnapping like she had told Luke? Would she tell her about Dana which she hadn't even told Luke?

As they said goodnight - it was after 1 a.m. - Sterling wished they could just go on. Like they could message through the next few years, her on her bed, April on hers. Like they could fast forward and the next time they would meet would be on a college campus and they wouldn't waste any time with small talk but just kiss and be free to love each other. She wanted to tell April about this but felt too shy. Maybe she would one day. Maybe she wouldn't need to one day because they would be there, away from April's family, on a college campus, holding hands, sharing a dorm room, sharing a bed...

Sterling sighed. _Text me tomorrow?_ she wrote after April told her she'd have to go to bed since her mom had already admonished her twice for still being awake (she was pretending to read a book).

_Maybe. Night, Sterl._

_Sweet dreams._ Sterling answered and added in her mind: Of me.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

The first thing April did after properly waking up was checking her phone. The disappointment that there was no new message felt disproportionate to any feelings she should have for Sterling now so she chastised herself for being foolish.

However, the same disproportion hit her again when during first period, her phone buzzed, and upon checking she saw the simple message _Good morning_ appear on the screen. Her face lit up seemingly without any conscious effort of her own, an energy jolt went through April and she basically sailed through the class without any of the usual annoyance at wrong answers or stupid questions by her classmates.

Ezekiel looked at her sideways as they walked to their next classes.

"What?" she asked, somehow still smiling.

"You seem..." he made some obscure gestures. "All aglow. I'm pretty sure you're not pregnant, so what's the deal with this chipperness?"

"I'm just..." and now she herself waved her hands in the air. "Happy this morning. I had a good night's rest, I exercised yesterday, the shower wasn't too cold or too hot. It all just... fit," she elaborated.

"Well, you weren't this chipper earlier," Ezekiel mentioned, still looking at April.

"Oh, maybe she's got a crush on Mr. Linton," Hannah B suggested.

Both Ezekiel and April looked at her for a moment like she'd lost her mind.

"Anyway," Ezekiel announced loudly, seemingly trying to erase Hannah B's comment from existence. "I like it."

"Then don't question it," April said. She took a left turn where Ezekiel and Hannah B took a right and she was glad to be rid of them for now. Ezekiel was way too observant for his own good sometimes, or her good. He'd actually started commenting on April and Sterling maybe patching up their friendship when they were hooking up and April didn't like that much. Ezekiel may be the only one who could read her well enough to suspect something, and unfortunately, he was a gossip. He would tell, she was sure, whatever he suspected to someone. And April couldn't afford that.

That's why she waited with answering Sterling's text until she sat in the next classroom. _Good morning_ , she wrote back, then added _You're late for school. Doesn't your mom make you keep school hours?_

It was already the middle of the class when an answer came:

_No, she only looks in a couple of times to see if I do my work. We don't talk much these days._

That gave April pause. As far as she knew, the Wesleys were all pretty close and, according to Blair at least, Sterling was their mother's favorite. She wondered if Sterling wanted her to ask about it but then another message from her came:

_I couldn't sleep last night after we talked, not right away, anyway. You know what I did?_

_How would I know?_ April wrote back.

_I googled lesbian movies, excuse me, movies with lesbian protagonists._

April immediately became self-conscious and looked around. Everybody seemed busy listening to Ms. Brix explaining their current math situation again, luckily, April had understood it the first time and could divide her attention.

_And what have you found?_

_LOADS of movies I've never heard about. I mean even I've heard of Booksmart (haven't watched it yet, tho) but there are so many movies with lesbians in it. I mean I guess considering the number of movies there are, it's not that many but... well, for the beginning, it's not too bad. Maybe we could watch one or two together some time? I mean separately but face-timing or texting?_

April stared at this text. There were so many conflicted emotions running through her, fear and joy and excitement and dread. The fact that Sterling still wanted to spend time with her was already overwhelming but that she wanted to watch lesbian movies... The fear of getting caught watching something like that on her laptop... it took April's breath away. And yet...

 _Or not._ This new text shook April out of her reverie. What should she answer?

 _Maybe, if it's not too racy?_ She knew she didn't sound convinced but she also didn't want to shut the topic down completely. _I would have to delete my cookies afterward, and my search history._

_I would totally remind you to do that._

April's hand flew up to her mouth. She almost cried upon reading the message. How did she even deserve a friend like Sterling, not to mention someone who... maybe still loved her a little bit?

_We could start with Booksmart. I've heard good things about that - well, the reviews are good. And I read an article in a conservative magazine calling it 'a recruitment tool for liberal, lesbian witches' so I definitely want to watch it at some point._

Sterling send her a reaction gif of a minion laughing.

They continued their conversation through the school day, just a few messages about all kinds of things. Sterling send her funny synopses of the movies she might wanna check out and even funnier ones of those she definitely didn't wanna watch.

April told her what was going on at school, who hooked up, who didn't anymore, and who had fallen from grace due to social rules that nobody really cared about unless they were broken.

While in Fellowship, April suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder as she was texting once again.

"Mobot," Ellen said as she looked up.

"I... I'm texting with Sterling," April said.

"Oh, how is she? I mean, I got her email with her homework from yesterday which said she's fine. Send her my love."

"Will do," April said. Ellen was basically the only person she trusted with knowing that she and Sterling were in contact. Even her phone said Hannah B now when Sterling texted. She'd changed Hannah B to Ezekiel B since most of what she said was related to what Ezekiel texted anyway and her parents weren't likely to notice the additional B should they happen to look at her phone when it announced a message.

"I'm glad you two are talking again," Ellen said, sitting down in the chair next to April.

"So am I. It's just... I don't want my parents to know. So if you could not mention it. I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't have anyway but..."

"Don't they like Sterling? I find that hard to believe."

"It's not about Sterling. Our dads had a falling out... over golf. Her dad accused my dad of cheating and... well, they haven't thrown hands or anything but they're not really talking either." April felt bad about lying, especially to Ellen but Ellen had a tendency to let her mouth run rampant and if she should mention that she was glad that she and Sterling were friends again, and it was obvious that she was happy about it, then her dad would explicitly forbid her to talk to Sterling. April was sure of that. The only reason her dad hadn't done that yet was that he thought that they hated each other anyway.

"Now that's just silly. But I hear you, April. I won't say a peep."

"Thank you. We're really just texting about this math problem Sterling doesn't understand. I guess she doesn't trust anyone but me to explain it in a way that she understands."

"You do have a knack for math. Anyway, I'm glad you're talking no matter about what. Tell Sterling hi from me and that I hope she'll be back soon." Ellen gave her shoulder a good squeeze and left her again.

_Ellen says hi. She hopes you'll be back soon. So do I, btw._

It took a couple of minutes for Sterling to answer. April used them to continue her work on a sign for a bakesale the church was holding for a charity.

_You haven't asked why I'm not there yet. I take it you're trying to be sensitive?_

_I figured you would tell me if you wanted me to know._

Another couple of minutes passed but this time, April didn't resume her work on the sign. Her focus was completely taken by their exchange. She'd wanted to ask, she very much wanted to know but Blair had told her that it wasn't because of her and that had been good enough for her. But now her pulse was beating wildly in her neck. She was so focused on her phone that she didn't notice someone sitting down next to her.

"Hey, mobot," Luke said good-naturedly and thumbed April on her arm.

April started. "What?"

"Hey, you all right? I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, Luke. No, I'm good. I just..." She pointed at her phone.

"Mobot," he said with a grin.

"Actually, it's the other way around. This is important."

"Oh, right. Got it." He stood.

"You don't have to leave," April said but her voice was very soft, not at all convincing she found.

Luke looked around and then leaned down. "Is it him?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Him?"

"Y'know, the guy," he emphasized.

"Oh, yes. Yes, it's... Yeah."

When they'd broken up, April had told Luke that there was someone else, someone she'd only met over the summer. Luke had assumed it was a he and he obviously thought they were still in contact.

"I get it," he said before walking over to some other friends.

She looked back at her phone. There was a new message:

_I'll tell you about it but not now. Tonight maybe?_

_If you're sure you want to. I'll listen._

_Could I call you? It's difficult to explain just over text._

_Yes, of course. We have dinner at 7, so anytime after 8 would be all right._

_Thank you._

_Thank you for trusting me_ , April wrote back. It was their last text for the time being. Scrolling through their whole conversation of the day, April couldn't help smiling. She was so happy conversing with Sterling. She felt silly when she noticed Luke watching her and grinning. He seemed happy to see her happy but then he didn't know that the girl who made her happy was the same that made him so.


End file.
